Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) with extra dark upperparts and a "string of pearls"

The rather dark upperparts on this argentatus indicate together with the reduced amount of black markings on the outer primaries that the bird most likely comes from the northeastern most populations of argentatus.

This relative dark-backed gull has a beautiful “string of pearls” made by the white spots behind the black subterminal markings in p6-p8 - a primary pattern commonly seen in Glaucous-winged Gull and Slaty-backed Gull.




Herring Gull (Larus argentatus), ad, 9.12.2007, Kjul Strand, Hirtshals, 4 photos